Masculinities in Early Medieval Europe

This volume brings together a collection of essays that delve into the shifts in ideas, roles, and practices of masculinities and male attitudes during the transition from late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. This period was marked by significant changes, including the collapse of Roman political authority in the West, the fragmentation of imperial universalism in polities, and the rise of Christianity, which all challenged the gender roles inherited from Antiquity.

Within this historical context, the book explores the evolution of men’s privileges, responsibilities, and burdens through eleven case studies focusing on different categories of men and manly behaviour. The volume brings to life husbands and fathers, kings and workers, clerics and warriors from both the East and the West, as revealed through contemporary textual and material sources and preserved in the physical remains of male bodies and actions. In doing so, this volume will bring to the fore new perspectives on masculinities and gender history.

Cristina La Rocca, Introduzione

I. QUESTIONI DI FAMIGLIA/ FAMILY MATTERS
Michael E. Stewart, Marriage, Power, and Manly Romanitas in the Age of Justinian
Annamaria Pazienza, When the Groom Relocates: Men’s Change of Residence after Marriage in Lombard Italy
Andreas Fischer, Fathers and Sons: Roles, Laws and Expectations in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

II. PARLIAMO DI GUERRIERI/ LET US TALK ABOUT WARRIORS
Danuta Shanzer, Power, Violence, Pity, and Courage: Through Clerical Eyes in the Early Middle Ages
Francesco Borri, Savage Dreams: Militant Masculinity between Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Leonardo Sernagiotto, The Importance of Being Lothar: the Power, Violence, Courage and Impiety of a Carolingian Emperor

III. CORPI DI CHIERICI, CADAVERI DI CHIERICI / CLERICAL BODIES, CLERICAL CORPSES
Rachel Stone, On Criminal Priests: Illicit Desires and Clerical Masculinity
Francesco Veronese, Men Moving Men’s Bodies: Hagiographical Masculinities in Carolingian Times

IV. QUEL CHE RESTA DELLA MASCOLINITÀ/ WHAT IS LEFT OF MASCULINITIES
Bonnie Effros, St Martial, Disciple of Christ: Apostolic Conversion Stories and the Crisis of Modernity in Nineteenth-Century France
Flavia De Rubeis, La firma dell’uomo: uso della scrittura e consapevolezza di sé
Giovanna Bianchi & Serena Viva, Archaeology and Anthropology of a Group of laboratores from a Royal Center in Early Medieval Tuscia

Francesco Borri & Francesco Veronese, Conclusioni